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Quartz Staff

July 11, 2013

What to watch for today

Will the US jobs cheer continue? Initial jobless claims will offer clues into the strength of the US labor market recovery.

Big shakeup at Microsoft. CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly looking to reorganize the company into software and devices divisions, a move that may involve moving a lot of high-ranking executives around. Ballmer may also change the way the company reports its earnings.

The Bank of Japan stood firm. It announced no new changes to its monetary easing policy and reiterated its view that prices will rise 1.9% in the year starting April 2015. It trimmed some other forecasts, projecting inflation 0.6% this year and 1.3% in the following 12 months. South Korea also kept rates steady at 2.5%.

Bernanke isn’t ready to taper quite yet. He said after a speech in Massachusetts that “highly accommodative” monetary policy was necessary in the immediate future. The dovish comments sent Asian markets higher, but minutes released from the most recent Fed meeting showed that around half the committee advocated cutting off the bank’s $85 billion monthly stimulus spending by the end of the year.

Some answers on the Quebec rail disaster. The head of a company that operated a runaway train filled with oil that killed up to 50 people in an explosion apologized for the incident and said the most likely cause was an improper use of handbrakes. The engineer who set the brakes has been suspended without pay.

American retailers’ watered-down proposal for Bangladesh factories. 17 North American retailers including Walmart and Gap unveiled a five-year worker safety plan that included annual factory inspections and a $42 million fund. They had deemed a European plan, announced on Monday, too binding.

Smithfield’s CEO tried to set the record straight. Larry Pope appeared in front of a senate committee to answer questions about the US pork producer’s takeover by China’s Shuanghui International. Some lawmakers are concerned that the largest Chinese takeover of a US company would set a precedent, threatening US jobs and food security.

Gwynn Guilford on why China’s slowdown could be great for the US. “It’s unlikely any global player will emerge with the voracious appetite for US Treasurys that China has had. But that might be fine. Why? Because America might need to borrow less. And that means it will need fewer borrowers of its debt.” Read more here.